Are Stamp Albums Negative Reinforcement?

Hi again,
If those empty spaces in our albums beckon us to search for them, is that a bad thing? I also collect US coinage. I've completed a set or two, totally filling the specific album. Well, I look at the completed album for a few minutes and say, "is that all there is?"

I do believe (for me anyway) that the search, the want, and the trail to get those spaces filled is as much of what its all about as finally getting them.

Hey, for what its worth..........

I really like lorddenning's display of Canadian George V definitives. I have nothing new to add to this thread except to say that I abandoned pre-printed album pages when I resumed collecting about ten years ago. To me, completion of anything is nice but impractical for most of my areas of interest, so I take more pleasure from arranging my own displays. I really admire collectors who have the skill, patience and time to design their own custom-printed album pages; however, not for me - too impatient. I am leaning more and more to Vario sheets.

Several light years ago when I was 12 years old, my first printed stamp catalogue was for the world. Talk about blank spaces and pages. I eventually (age 14) figured out that I should collect Canada alone and decided that I would design my own pages. A page holds one stamp together with the history/story of why it was produced. I believe that the "chase" and the stamp's history is just as much fun as its acquisition. It works for me, but probably not everyone.

I realy like lordenning's approach. Thanks for sharing.

I use blank Scott International pages now for most of my classic (1870s to 1930s) Portuguese colonial sets. Some sets don't even have the cheapies in the print pages.

I also have trimmed-to-fit a number of Speciality pages, which offer a blank reverse side. Does require one to use glassine interleaves.